Some Updates

I am sure by now you can see that there have been many updates made to this page over the past few weeks. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a series of major updates to make my blog more attractive and appealing to the outside world! (Hey, if no one wants to read what I have to say, at least it will look nice!!!) The plan, however, is not so much to make it look attractive, but rather fulfill a challenge to myself that I hope proves rewarding to everyone.

Quite honestly, I have become quite sick and tired of people who have "blogs" just for the sake of having one. All of us know at LEAST a handful of people who just have blogs so they can send a link to their friends. I was one of them. But there is so much value to truly using them to document our thoughts and interactions with the world. How many blogs exist in the world right now? This web site documents that 4.12 million blogs have been created on the eight popular blog-hosting services alone: Blog-City, BlogSpot, Diaryland, LiveJournal, Pitas, TypePad, Weblogger and Xanga. How many of them are truly valuable or taken seriously is probably only a fraction, but then again, I am sure that it is relative to who is reading them. I do not want to be in that fraction.

On the other hand, I don't know if my frustration is warranted. There is something very rewarding about documenting thoughts and opinions on the happenings in today's world. Whether it is clarity of our own mind on topics or a sincere offering of opinions to the world concerning day to day events at any given time, I have tremendous respect for those who dedicate their time to the written word. There is so much of God that can be talked about and explored; So much about God's Word that can be cherished and expounded; So much in world right now that has shaped what our future holds; And so much happens every day in our lives that speaks so many valuable lessons that people can relate to. I want to be the type of person who looks at everything in this world and sees so much to learn from it, whether good or bad, and understand how God's Word relates to it. It is there that my challenge begins.

I was very much inspired by Tim Challies' (www.challies.com) challenge that he made to himself to write a post on his blog once a day for a year. This was the genesis of a very valuable blog and I have found so much reward in reading his posts daily. My challenge is not as dedicated as his was, but my challenge is to post at least every week for a year. I do have a tendency to be lazy and avoid serious thought. Serious thought and consideration takes a lot of time and energy and it is easy to take the world at face value without looking deeper into the heart of the issues. My challenge is to conquer that laziness and be a man of deep thought and consideration. The world needs it and God commands it:
Psalm 119:15 "I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways."Psalm 119:23 "Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes."Psalm 119:27 "Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works."Psalm 119:48 "I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes." Psalm 143:5 "I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands."Psalm 145:5 "On the glorious splendor of your majesty,and on your wondrous works, I will meditate." Needless to say, every Christian should take the time to meditate on God's Word. This is something that I have been VERY lazy in doing. I have always loved to write and it is my sincere hope to combine meditation on God's Word and all that He is done with writing.Here is to a year of combining the two!